Electron excitation atomic layer etch

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are apparatuses and methods for performing atomic layer etching. A method may include modifying one or more surface layers of material on the substrate and exposing the one or more modified surface layers on the substrate to an electron source thereby removing, without using a plasma, the one or more modified surface layers on the substrate. An apparatus may include a processing chamber, a process gas unit, an electron source, and a controller with instructions configured to cause the process gas unit to flow a first process gas to a substrate in a chamber interior, the first process gas is configured to modify one or more layers of material on the substrate, and to cause the electron source to generate electrons and expose the one or more modified surface layers on the substrate to the electrons, the one or more modified surface layers being removed, without using a plasma.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

An Application Data Sheet is filed concurrently with this specificationas part of the present application. Each application that the presentapplication claims benefit of or priority to as identified in theconcurrently filed Application Data Sheet is incorporated by referenceherein in their entireties and for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

Semiconductor fabrication often involves patterning schemes and otherprocesses whereby some materials are selectively etched to preventetching of other exposed surfaces of a substrate. As device geometriesbecome smaller and smaller, high etch selectivity processes aredesirable to achieve effective etching of desired materials withoutplasma assistance.

SUMMARY

In some embodiments a method of processing a substrate is provided. Themethod may include modifying one or more surface layers of material onthe substrate, and exposing the one or more modified surface layers onthe substrate to an electron source thereby removing, without using aplasma, the one or more modified surface layers on the substrate.

In some embodiments, the exposing may further include simultaneouslyexposing all of the one or more modified surface layers on the substrateto the electron source.

In some embodiments, the exposing may further include exposing a firstsection of the one or more modified surface layers to the electronsource.

In some such embodiments, only the first section of the one or moremodified surface layers may be exposed to the electron source while asecond section of the one or more modified surface layers may not beexposed to the electron source.

In some such embodiments, the exposing may further include exposing asecond section of the one or more modified surface layers to theelectron source after the exposing of the first section.

In some further embodiments, the exposing may further include exposingthe first section of the one or more modified surface layers to theelectron source at a first beam energy level, and exposing the secondsection of the one or more modified surface layers to the electronsource at a second beam energy level.

In some further embodiments, the exposing may further include exposingthe first section of the one or more modified surface layers to theelectron source for a first time period, and exposing the second sectionof the one or more modified surface layers to the electron source for asecond time period.

In some embodiments, the method may further include neutralizing, afterthe exposing, a charge on the substrate.

In some embodiments, the exposing may further include exposing the oneor more modified surface layers on the substrate to the electron sourceat a beam energy level that is sufficient to cause anisotropic removalof the one or more modified surface layers from the substrate.

In some embodiments, the exposing may further include exposing the oneor more modified surface layers on the substrate to the electron sourceat a beam energy level that is sufficient to cause isotropic removal ofthe one or more modified surface layers from the substrate.

In some embodiments, the exposing may further include exposing the oneor more modified surface layers on the substrate to the electron sourceat a beam energy level that is sufficient to cause partial anisotropicremoval of the one or more modified surface layers from the substrate.

In some embodiments, the method may further include flowing, before orduring the modifying, a first process gas onto the substrate, and thefirst process gas is configured to modify the one or more surface layersof material on the substrate.

In some embodiments, the modifying may further include exposing the oneor more surface layers of material on the substrate to a plasma.

In some embodiments, the method may further include repeating, while thesubstrate remains in a processing chamber, the modifying of one or moresurface layers of material on the substrate and the exposing the one ormore modified surface layers on the substrate to the electron source.

In some such embodiments, the method may further include purging theprocessing chamber between modifying and exposing operations.

In some embodiments, the material may have a surface binding energy ofless than about 4.5 electron volts (eV).

In some such embodiments, the material may be copper, aluminum,germanium, gold, or silver.

In some such embodiments, substrate temperature during the modifying andthe exposing is substantially the same.

In some embodiments, a method of processing a substrate may be provided.The method may include modifying one or more surface layers of materialon the substrate, converting, after the modifying, the one or moremodified surface layers on the substrate to one or more convertedlayers, and exposing the one or more converted layers on the substrateto an electron source thereby removing, without using a plasma, the oneor more converted surface layers on the substrate.

In some embodiments, the converting may further include flowing a secondprocess gas onto the substrate, and the second process gas is configuredto convert the one or more modified surface layers on the substrate tothe one or more converted layers.

In some such embodiments, the modifying may further include exposing theone or more surface layers of material on the substrate to a plasma.

In some such embodiments, the converting may further include exposingthe one or more surface layers of material on the substrate to a plasma.

In some embodiments, an apparatus for semiconductor processing may beprovided. The apparatus may include a processing chamber that includeschamber walls that at least partially bound a chamber interior, a wafersupport for positioning a substrate in the chamber interior, a processgas unit configured to flow a first process gas into the chamberinterior and onto the substrate in the chamber interior, an electronsource configured to expose electrons to the substrate positioned on thewafer support, and a controller that includes instructions that areconfigured to cause the process gas unit to flow the first process gasto the substrate in the chamber interior, the first process gas beingconfigured to modify one or more layers of material on the substrate,and to cause the electron source to generate the electrons and therebyexpose the one or more modified surface layers on the substrate to theelectrons, the one or more modified surface layers being removed,without using a plasma.

In some embodiments, the apparatus may further include a vacuum unitconfigured to evacuate gases from the chamber interior, and thecontroller may further include instructions configured to cause thevacuum unit to generate a vacuum in the chamber interior and purge gasesfrom the chamber interior.

In some embodiments, the apparatus may further include a chargeneutralization unit configured to neutralize a charge of the substrate,and the controller further comprises instructions configured to causethe charge neutralization unit to neutralize the charge of thesubstrate.

In some such embodiments, the charge neutralization unit may be at leastone of a plasma source, an ultraviolet light source, and the electronsource.

In some embodiments, the apparatus may further include a plasmagenerator configured to generate a plasma in the chamber interior. Theplasma generator may be one of a capacitively coupled plasma, aninductively coupled plasma, an upper remote plasma, or a lower remoteplasma. The controller may further include instructions configured tocause the plasma generator to generate the plasma in the chamberinterior.

In some embodiments, the apparatus may further include an isolationvalve or shutter interposed between the chamber interior and theelectron source, and the isolation valve or shutter are configured toallow the electrons to reach the chamber interior.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts an example process flow diagram for performing operationsin accordance with disclosed embodiments.

FIG. 2 depicts an example schematic illustration of an electronexcitation ALE cycle.

FIG. 3 depicts a graph of various electron penetration depths intomaterials.

FIG. 4 depicts an example schematic illustration of another electronexcitation ALE cycle.

FIG. 5 depicts electron penetrations into a material.

FIGS. 6A-6C depict electron penetrations into a material with a slot.

FIG. 7 depicts an example schematic illustration of yet another electronexcitation ALE cycle.

FIG. 8 depicts an example schematic illustration of a different electronexcitation ALE cycle.

FIG. 9 depicts a second example process flow diagram for performingoperations in accordance with disclosed embodiments.

FIG. 10 depicts an example illustration of another electron excitationALE cycle, like that shown in FIG. 9 .

FIG. 11 depicts an example cross-sectional view of an apparatus forsemiconductor processing in accordance with disclosed embodiments.

FIG. 12 depicts an example cross-sectional view of another apparatus forsemiconductor processing in accordance with disclosed embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth toprovide a thorough understanding of the presented embodiments. Thedisclosed embodiments may be practiced without some or all of thesespecific details. In other instances, well-known process operations havenot been described in detail to not unnecessarily obscure the disclosedembodiments. While the disclosed embodiments will be described inconjunction with the specific embodiments, it will be understood that itis not intended to limit the disclosed embodiments.

Conventional ALE Processing

Semiconductor fabrication processes often involve patterning and etchingof various materials, including conductors, semiconductors, anddielectrics. Some examples include conductors, such as metals or carbon;semiconductors, such as silicon or germanium; and dielectrics, such assilicon oxide, aluminum dioxide, zirconium dioxide, hafnium dioxide,silicon nitride, and titanium nitride. Atomic layer etching (“ALE”)processes remove thin layers of material using sequential self-limitingreactions. Generally, an ALE cycle is the minimum set of operations usedto perform an etch process one time, such as etching a monolayer. Theresult of one ALE cycle is that at least some of a film layer on asubstrate surface is etched. Typically, an ALE cycle includes amodification operation to form a reactive layer, followed by a removaloperation to remove or etch only this reactive layer. The cycle mayinclude certain ancillary operations such as removing one of thereactants or byproducts. Generally, a cycle contains one instance of aunique sequence of operations.

As an example, a conventional ALE cycle may include the followingoperations: (i) delivery of a reactant gas, (ii) purging of the reactantgas from the chamber, (iii) delivery of a removal gas and an optionalplasma, and (iv) purging of the chamber. In some embodiments, etchingmay be performed nonconformally. The modification operation generallyforms a thin, reactive surface layer with a thickness less than theun-modified material. In an example modification operation, a substratemay be chlorinated by introducing chlorine into the chamber. Chlorine isused as an example etchant species or etching gas, but it will beunderstood that a different etching gas may be introduced into thechamber. The etching gas may be selected depending on the type andchemistry of the substrate to be etched. A plasma may be ignited andchlorine reacts with the substrate for the etching process; the chlorinemay react with the substrate or may be adsorbed onto the surface of thesubstrate. The species generated from a chlorine plasma can be generateddirectly by forming a plasma in the process chamber housing thesubstrate or they can be generated remotely in a process chamber thatdoes not house the substrate, and can be supplied into the processchamber housing the substrate.

In some instances, a purge may be performed after a modificationoperation. In a purge operation, non-surface-bound active species (e.g.,chlorine) may be removed from the process chamber. This can be done bypurging and/or evacuating the process chamber to remove the activespecies, without removing the adsorbed layer. The species generated in aplasma can be removed by simply stopping the plasma and allowing theremaining species to decay, optionally combined with purging and/orevacuation of the chamber. Purging can be done using any inert gas suchas N2, Ar, Ne, He and their combinations.

In a removal operation, the substrate may be exposed to an energy sourceto etch the substrate. The energy source may include ion bombardment,for instance using argon or helium ions, exposure to photons, which mayinclude activating or sputtering gas or chemically reactive species thatinduce removal, or by the application of heat. During removal, a biasmay be optionally turned on to facilitate directional sputtering andattract ions towards it. The bias power is typically set to a power thatprevents sputtering since the power is continuously delivered duringthis removal operation. In some embodiments, ALE may be isotropic inwhich etching is performed in multiple directions; in some otherembodiments ALE is anisotropic, such as when ions are used in theremoval process, in which etching is performed in a specific direction,such as vertically.

In various examples, the modification and removal operations may berepeated in cycles, such as about 1 to about 30 cycles, or about 1 toabout 20 cycles. Any suitable number of ALE cycles may be included toetch a desired amount of film. In some embodiments, ALE is performed incycles to etch about 1 Å to about 50 Å of the surface of the layers onthe substrate. In some embodiments, cycles of ALE etch between about 2 Åand about 50 Å of the surface of the layers on the substrate. In someembodiments, each ALE cycle may etch at least about 0.1 Å, 0.5 Å, or 1Å.

In some instances, prior to etching, the substrate may include a blanketlayer of material, such as silicon or germanium. The substrate mayinclude a patterned mask layer previously deposited and patterned on thesubstrate. For example, a mask layer may be deposited and patterned on asubstrate including a blanket amorphous silicon layer. The layers on thesubstrate may also be patterned. Substrates may have “features” such asvia or contact holes, which may be characterized by one or more ofnarrow and/or re-entrant openings, constrictions within the feature, andhigh aspect ratios. One example of a feature is a hole or via in asemiconductor substrate or a layer on the substrate. Another example isa trench in a substrate or layer. A feature having a “narrow” openingmay be defined as a feature having an opening diameter or line widthless than that of a “wide” feature in relative terms. Wide features mayhave an opening diameter or a critical dimension at least 1.5 times, orat least 2 times, or at least 5 times, or at least 10 times or more than10 times larger than the critical dimension of narrow features. Examplesof “narrow” features include features having an opening diameter betweenabout 10 Å and about 100 Å. Examples of “wide” features include featureshaving an opening diameter on the order of hundreds of Angstroms toabout 1 micron. In various instances, the feature may have anunder-layer, such as a barrier layer or adhesion layer. Non-limitingexamples of under-layers include dielectric layers and conductinglayers, e.g., silicon oxides, silicon nitrides, silicon carbides, metaloxides, metal nitrides, metal carbides, and metal layers.

ALE process conditions, such as chamber pressure, substrate temperature,plasma power, frequency, and type, and bias power, depend on thematerial to be etched, the composition of the gases used to modify thematerial to be etched, the material underlying the material to beetched, and the composition of gases used to remove the modifiedmaterial. However, the combination of these factors make performing ALEfor etching a variety of materials challenging. For instance, theconventional energy sources used in the removal operation referencedabove may present various disadvantages and challenges. For example, theuse of ion bombardment is limited to directional, i.e., anisotropic,etching thereby precluding the ability to etch in numerous directions.While this etching may be able to reach inside deep contacts ortrenches, this etching is unable to perform isotropic etching withinthese areas. Additionally, ion bombardment may cause the mask to erode,to become faceted, or both, which may adversely affect thephotolithography operations and may lead to substrate defects.

The materials to which ion bombardment is applicable are also limitedbecause ion bombardment may cause unwanted sputtering of materialexposed to the ion bombardment. In sputtering, a material ejectsparticles when the material is exposed to ions having higher kineticenergy than the surface binding energy of the material. Accordingly,when a substrate with multiple materials that have various surfacebinding energies is bombarded with ions to etch one material, othermaterials with surface binding energies less than that one material maybe caused to sputter, thereby leading to unwanted removal or degradationof materials on the substrate that may ultimately lead to unwantedsubstrate defects. “Soft” materials may be considered materials with asurface binding energy less than 4.5 electron-volts (eV) includingaluminum (3.19 eV), copper (3.48 eV), germanium (4.29 eV), silver (3.33eV), and gold (4.13 eV), and “hard” materials may be consideredmaterials with a surface binding energy greater than 4.5 eV, such assilicon (4.73 eV), tantalum (8.1 eV), rhenium (8.0 eV), and Niobium (7.5eV). Accordingly, a substrate having both soft and hard materials maysputter the soft materials when the substrate is bombarded with ionsintended to remove the hard materials. Therefore, materials that can beexposed to ion bombardment for etching are limited.

In another example, exposing the substrate to photons is limited tonon-directional, i.e., isotropic, etching, thus preventing etching areaswith high aspect ratios, such as inside deep contacts or trenches.Similarly, applying heat as the energy source for the removal operationis also limited to isotropic etching, and may have limited throughput ifthe etching cannot be cycled between multiple temperatures in anefficient and timely manner.

The use of plasma during the removal operation of conventional etchingalso presents numerous challenges and disadvantages. For instance, it isgenerally desirable to create the same plasma conditions for each ALEcycle of a single substrate as well as for all substrates in a batch,but it can be difficult to repeatedly recreate the same plasmaconditions due to some plasmas changing due to accumulation of materialin the process chamber. Additionally, many conventional ALE processesmay cause damage to exposed components of the substrate, such as siliconoxide, may cause defects, and may increase the top-to-bottom ratio of apattern and increase the pattern loading. Defects may lead topattern-missing to the extent that the device may be rendered useless.Plasma-assisted ALE also utilizes small radicals, i.e., deeplydissociated radicals, that are more aggressive which causes them toremove more material than may be desired, thereby reducing theselectivity of this etching. As a result, conventional ALE techniquesare often unsuitable for selectively etching some materials, such asaluminum dioxide, zirconium dioxide, hafnium dioxide, silicon nitride,and titanium nitride.

Electron Excitation ALE

Provided herein are methods and apparatuses for performing ALE usingelectrons as the applied energy source, rather than plasma, to drive theremoval operation. ALE that relies upon exposure to an electron source,not a plasma, to drive the removal operation may be considered “electronexcitation ALE”.

FIG. 1 depicts an example process flow diagram for performing operationsin accordance with disclosed embodiments. In operation 101, a substrateis provided to a process chamber. The substrate may be a silicon wafer,e.g., a 200-mm wafer, a 300-mm wafer, or a 450-mm wafer, includingwafers having one or more layers of material such as dielectric,conducting, or semi-conducting material deposited thereon. A patternedsubstrate may have “features” such as vias or contact holes, which maybe characterized by one or more of narrow and/or re-entrant openings,constrictions within the features, and high aspect ratios. The featuresmay be formed in one or more of the above described layers.

In some embodiments, the substrate does not have any features and thesurface of the substrate is a blanket layer of material. In someembodiments, the substrate includes features of various sizes. Invarious embodiments, types of substrates fabricated from performingdisclosed embodiments may depend on the aspect ratios of features on thesubstrate prior to performing disclosed embodiments.

In some embodiments, features on a substrate provided in operation 101may have an aspect ratio of at least about 2:1, at least about 3:1, atleast about 4:1, at least about 6:1, at least about 10:1, at least about30:1, or higher. The feature may also have a dimension near the opening,e.g., an opening diameter or line width of between about 5 nm to 500 nm,for example between about 25 nm and about 300 nm. Disclosed methods maybe performed on substrates with features having an opening less thanabout 20 nm.

A via, trench or other recessed feature may be referred to as anunfilled feature or a feature. According to various embodiments, thefeature profile may narrow gradually and/or include an overhang at thefeature opening. A re-entrant profile is one that narrows from thebottom, closed end, or interior of the feature to the feature opening. Are-entrant profile may be generated by asymmetric etching kineticsduring patterning and/or the overhang due to non-conformal film stepcoverage in the previous film deposition, such as deposition of adiffusion barrier. In various examples, the feature may have a widthsmaller in the opening at the top of the feature than the width of themiddle and/or bottom of the feature.

In operation 103, the substrate is exposed to a modification gas for aduration sufficient to modify at least a part of a surface of thesubstrate. Etching chemistry is introduced into the chamber in operation103. As described herein, in operations where materials are introducedinto the chamber, the reactor or chamber may be stabilized byintroducing the chemistry into the chamber prior to processing thesubstrate or wafer. Stabilizing the chamber may use the same flow rates,pressure, temperatures, and other conditions as the chemistry to be usedin the operation following the stabilization. In some embodiments,stabilizing the chamber may involve different parameters. In someembodiments, a carrier gas, such as N₂, Ar, Ne, He, and combinationsthereof, is continuously flowed during operation 103. In someembodiments, a carrier gas is only used during removal. The carrier gasmay be used as a purge gas in some operations as described below.

The modification operation 103 may form a thin, reactive surface layer,or a reactive part of the surface layer, with a thickness that is moreeasily removed than the un-modified material in the subsequent removaloperation. As noted above, in an example modification operation, asubstrate may be chlorinated by introducing chlorine into the chamber.Chlorine is used as an example etchant species in disclosed embodiments,but it will be understood that in some embodiments, a different etchinggas is introduced into the chamber. The etching gas may be selecteddepending on the type and chemistry of the substrate to be etched. Insome embodiments, chlorine may react with the substrate or may beadsorbed onto the surface of the substrate. In various embodiments,chlorine is introduced into the chamber in a gaseous form and may beoptionally accompanied by a carrier gas which may be any of thosedescribed above.

In some embodiments, a plasma may be ignited during the modificationoperation 103 in order to assist with or facilitate the modification ofone or more layers of the substrate. In some embodiments, themodification gas is ignited in a remote plasma chamber to generate aplasma species which is then delivered to the process chamber where thesubstrate is housed. In some embodiments, the modification gas isignited within the process chamber. For instance, a plasma may beignited and the chlorine reacts with the substrate for the etchingprocess. The species generated from a chlorine plasma can be generateddirectly by forming a plasma in the process chamber housing thesubstrate or they can be generated remotely in a process chamber thatdoes not house the substrate, and can be supplied into the processchamber housing the substrate. In some embodiments, a plasma is not usedand chlorine may be introduced thermally into the chamber.

In various embodiments, the plasma may be an inductively coupled plasmaor a capacitively coupled plasma. An inductively coupled plasma may beset at a plasma between about 50 W and about 2000 W. In someembodiments, a bias may be applied between about 0V and about 100V, andbetween about 0V and 500V, for example.

In various embodiments, the plasma may be pulsed during operation 103.The plasma may be pulsed between an ON state at a plasma power betweenabout 50 W and about 2000 W and an OFF state at a plasma power of 0 W.In some embodiments, the plasma may be pulsed between a low state at aplasma power between about 10 W and about 100 W and a high state at aplasma power between about 900 W and about 1500 W.

Pulsing may be performed at a pulsing frequency between about 10 Hz andabout 200 Hz. The duty cycle of the plasma pulsing for the modificationgas may be between about 1% and about 20%. It will be understood thatpulsing may involve repetitions of periods, each of which may last aduration T. The duration T includes the duration for pulse ON time (theduration for which the plasma is in an ON state) and the duration forOFF time (the duration from which the plasma is in an OFF state) duringa given period. The pulse frequency will be understood as 1/T. Forexample, for a pulsing period T=100 μs, frequency is 1/T= 1/100 μs, or10 kHz. The duty cycle or duty ratio is the fraction or percentage in aperiod T during which the energy source is in the ON state such thatduty cycle or duty ratio is pulse ON time divided by T. For example, fora pulsing period T=100 μs, if a pulse ON time is 70 μs (such that theduration for which the energy source is in an ON state in a period is 70μs) and a pulse OFF time is 30 μs (such that the duration for which theenergy source is in an OFF state in a period is 30 μs), the duty cycleis 70%.

In some embodiments, plasma is pulsed to allow higher energy to bedelivered to the modification gas. In some embodiments, plasma may bepulsed to allow the apparatus used to generate the plasma to operate atcertain conditions addressing the limitations of the apparatus. Forexample, for apparatuses that are unable to deliver plasma power for ashort, continuous duration, separating a dose which would be deliveredin a short, continuous duration into multiple pulses over a longerperiod of time such that the plasma ON time overall is the same as theshort, continuous duration eases delivery of the plasma power sufficientto modify most or all of the active sites on a substrate surface. Forexample, if the minimum amount of time needed for chlorine to modify asilicon surface continuously is 400 milliseconds, but the apparatus isincapable of delivering the chlorine gas and plasma power for that shortof a continuous duration, the 400 millisecond duration can be deliveredover 2 seconds using continuous chlorine gas flow and four cycles of 100ms pulse of plasma power and 400 ms of no plasma power.

In operation 105, the process chamber is optionally purged to removeexcess modification gas molecules that did not modify the substratesurface. In a purge operation, non-surface-bound active species may beremoved from the process chamber. This can be done by purging and/orevacuating the process chamber to remove the active species, withoutremoving the adsorbed layer. The species generated in a plasma can beremoved by simply stopping the plasma and allowing the remaining speciesdecay, optionally combined with purging and/or evacuation of thechamber. Purging can be done using any inert gas such as N₂, Ar, Ne, Heand their combinations.

In operation 107, at least one section of the modified surface of thesubstrate is exposed to an electron source that supplies energy to themodified, reactive surface to enable it to dissociate from thesubstrate, thereby removing the modified, reactive surface or portionsthereof. In some embodiments, the electron source may be a large areasource that is configured to expose the entire substrate surface to theelectrons at once, i.e., simultaneously. Some embodiments may be athermionic source which may be formed from lanthanum hexaboride, or theelectron source may be a field electron emission source, such as heatedtungsten zirconium dioxide (W/ZrO₂). In some other embodiments, theelectron source may be an electron beam that scans multiple sections ofthe substrate, or all of the substrate. This electron source may useshaped beams that can be focused on one or more sections of thesubstrate, and that may be scanned over the sections or over all of thesubstrate, such as a vector scan that deflects the beam to variouspositions and sections of the substrate. Another example electron sourceincludes a plasma electron source. These electron sources, andadjustments to these sources and the resulting etch, are described inmore detail below.

In operation 109, the charge of the substrate is optionally neutralized.In some embodiments, the charge of the substrate after exposure to theelectron source may be higher than prior to the exposure in operation107 and it is desirable to remove or reduce this charge. For instance,having a substrate with excess charge may adversely affect subsequentprocessing of the substrate, such as attracting particles which can bedetrimental and destructive to the wafers, as well as avoiding electrondeflection thereby enabling directionality of processing, includingetching. For example, particles may form unintended and highlyundesirable shorts within formed integrated circuits on the front sideof the wafer. More generally, particles may interfere with subsequentwafer processing. Particles attached to the back side may fall ontoanother wafer positioned underneath during processing or handling andlater cause the problems listed above. For example, wafers are typicallystored in cassette-like units, such as Front Opening Unified Pods(FOUPs), where one wafer is positioned directly above another. Theparticles contaminating the bottom side of one wafer can fall on thefront surface of the wafer below. Usually wafers are only supportedaround the edges, which leaves the front side of one wafer directlyexposed to the bottom of the wafer above it.

The charge may be reduced or removed in a number of ways, including, forexample, by exposing the substrate to ions from a plasma source such asan inductively coupled plasma, a capacitively coupled plasma, anelectron plasma source, or a remote plasma; by exposing the substrate toan ultraviolet light source, such as one or more lamps; by alternatinglyexposing the substrate to electrons and ions, which may be from the sameelectron source as the electron beam; and by depositing a surfaceconductive layer onto the substrate. Operation 109 may be performed invarious sequences, such as the order depicted in FIG. 1 , afteroperation 111, or after 113 before the substrate is removed from theprocess chamber.

In operation 111, the chamber is optionally purged to remove excessactivation gas and reaction byproducts from the removal operation ofoperation 107.

In operation 113, operations 103-111 are optionally repeated in cycles.In various embodiments, the modification and removal operations may berepeated in cycles, such as about 1 cycle to about 200 cycles, or about1 cycle to about 150 cycles, or about 1 cycle to about 70 cycles, orabout 1 cycle to about 40 cycles, or about 1 to about 30 cycles, orabout 1 to about 20 cycles. Any suitable number of ALE cycles may beincluded to etch a desired amount of film. In some embodiments, ALE isperformed in cycles to etch about 0.1 Å to about 50Å of the surface ofthe layers on the substrate. In some embodiments, cycles of ALE etchbetween about 1Å and about 50Å of the surface of the layers on thesubstrate.

FIG. 2 depicts an example schematic illustration of an electronexcitation ALE cycle. Diagrams 200 a-200 e show an electron excitationALE cycle. In 200 a, the substrate is provided. In 200 b, the surface ofthe substrate is modified. In 200 c, the next operation is prepared;this preparation may include flowing a second process gas or purging thechamber. In 200 d, the substrate is exposed to an electron source whichprovides energy to the modified, reactive surface to enable it todissociate from the substrate, thereby removing the modified, reactivesurface or portions thereof. In 200 e, the desired material has beenremoved.

Similarly, diagrams 202 a-202 e show an example of an electronexcitation ALE cycle for etching atoms 204 from a layer of material. In202 a, a substrate is provided, which includes a plurality of atoms,some of which are identified as item 204. The top layer in 202 a may beconsidered a surface layer 206 of material (example materials includesilicon and carbon); as seen in 202 a, the surface layer 206 of materialincludes six atoms 204, two of which are identified. In 202 b, a firstprocess gas with modifying molecules 208 (the solid black circles, someof which are identified with identifier 208; example molecules includediatomic chlorine and carbon monoxide) is introduced to the substratewhich modifies the surface layer 206 of the substrate. The schematic in202 b shows that some of the modifying molecules 208 are adsorbed onto,or reacted with, the atoms 204 of the surface layer 206 of the substratethereby creating modified surface layer 210 that includes modifiedmolecules 212 (one modified molecule 212 is identified inside a dottedellipse in 202 b; example molecules include carbon dioxide and silicontetrachloride). In 202 c, after the modified molecules 212 and themodified surface layer 210 have been created in 202 b, the firstprocessing gas may be optionally purged from the chamber. Here, sixmodified molecules 212 are seen in the modified surface layer 210, twoof which are identified inside dotted ellipses, and the modifyingmolecules 208 have been removed. In 202 d, the substrate is exposed toelectrons 214 that provide the energy to the modified molecules 212thereby enabling the modified molecules 212 to dissociate from, and thusbe removed from, the substrate. In 202 e, the modified molecules 212,and therefore the modified surface layer 210, have been removed from thesubstrate. Although a single layer of material was removed in FIG. 2 ,it is understood that one or more surface layers of material may beremoved by such operations.

The use of an electron source during the removal operation enablesvarious etch characteristics to be adjusted. For instance, the depth andthe type (e.g., isotropic, anisotropic) of the etching, as well as theareas etched, may be adjusted. In some embodiments, the depth of etchingmay be changed by adjusting the energy level of the electron source. Forsome electron sources, the depth that the electrons penetrate into amaterial of a substrate is dependent on the energy level of the electronsource. FIG. 3 depicts a graph of various electron penetration depthsinto materials. The x-axis is the electron energy while the y-axis isthe electron range, or penetration depth, into a material and as can beseen, the penetration depth increases into all three example materials(Silicon/silicon dioxide, germanium, and copper) as the electron energyincreases. Accordingly, increasing the electron source energy increasesthe penetration depth of the electrons which in turn increases the depthof material that receives the energy necessary to dissociate thereactive species and thus increases the depth of material that can beetched. Similarly, decreasing the electron source energy decreases thepenetration depth and therefore decreases the resulting etching depth.

As stated above, the material that is etched is that material which hasbeen modified, which may be a surface layer as well as layers underneaththe surface layer; modification of these lower layers may occur throughthe use of a plasma, downstream radicals, and a neutral gas, during themodification step that can penetrate below the surface layer, forinstance. Based on this, the modification and etching of multiple layersusing electron excitation ALE may be performed. FIG. 4 depicts anexample schematic illustration of another electron excitation ALE cycle.Diagrams 400 a-400 e show an electron excitation ALE cycle and aresimilar to diagrams 200 a-200 e above but illustrate the modificationand removal of multiple layers of material. In 400 a, the substrate isprovided. In 400 b, the surface of the substrate, as well as two layersof material underneath the surface, are modified. In 400 c, the nextoperation is prepared; this preparation may include flowing a secondprocess gas or purging the chamber. In 400 d, the substrate is exposedto an electron source which provides energy to the modified, reactivesurface layer and two lower layers to enable these three layers todissociate from the substrate, thereby removing them. In 400 e, thedesired material has been removed.

Diagrams 402 a-402 e show another example of an electron excitation ALEcycle for etching atoms 404 from a layer of material. In 402 a, asubstrate is provided, which includes a plurality of atoms, some ofwhich are identified as item 404. The top layer in 402 a may beconsidered a surface layer 406A of material and the two layersunderneath the surface layer 406A are identified as layers 406B and406C. Layers 406A and 406C include six atoms 404, two of which areidentified in layer 406A, and layer 406B includes five molecules. In 402b, a first process gas with modifying molecules 408 (the solid blackcircles, some of which are identified with identifier 408) is introducedto the substrate which modifies the surface layer 406A and the twolayers 406B and 406C of the substrate. The schematic in 402 b shows thatsome of the modifying molecules 408 are adsorbed onto, or reacted with,the atoms 404 of the layers 406A, 406B, and 406C, of the substratethereby creating three modified layers, collectively identified as 410,that include modified molecules 412 (three modified molecules 412 areidentified inside dotted ellipses in 402 b).

In 402 c, after the modified molecules 412 and the modified layers 410have been created in 402 b, the first processing gas may be optionallypurged from the chamber. Here, seventeen modified molecules 412 are seenin the modified layers 410, three of which are identified inside dottedellipses, and the modifying molecules 408 have been removed. In 402 d,the substrate is exposed to an electron source with an electron energythat allows electrons 414 to penetrate to all three layers in themodified layers 410 in order to provide the energy to the modifiedmolecules 412 and to enable the removal of the modified molecules 412 inthese three modified layers 410 from the substrate. In 402 e, themodified molecules 412, and therefore the modified layers 410, have beenremoved from the substrate.

In some embodiments, electron excitation ALE allows for the type ofetching to be adjusted. As mentioned above, etching may be anisotropic(i.e., directional), isotropic (i.e., non-directional), or partiallyanisotropic. Adjusting the electron source energy may adjust the type ofetching that is performed. For instance, if the electron source energyis adjusted so that the electron penetration depth is substantially less(e.g., less than 25%, 15% 10%, 1%, 0.1%, or 0.001%) than the desiredetch dimensions (such as the depth, width, or both, of the etch), thenthe etch may be considered anisotropic. If the electron source energy isadjusted so that the electron penetration depth is greater than orsubstantially equal to (e.g., within at least 10% or 5%) of the desiredetch dimensions, then the etching may be considered isotropic. If theelectron source energy is adjusted so that the penetration depth isin-between these ranges, then the etch may be considered partiallyanisotropic. Accordingly, the electron source may be set to one energylevel that is sufficient to cause anisotropic etch (e.g., the electronpenetration depth is substantially less (e.g., less than 25%, 15% 10%,1%, 0.1%, or 0.001%) than the desired etch dimensions), to anotherenergy level that is sufficient to cause isotropic etch (e.g., theelectron penetration depth is greater than or substantially equal to(e.g., within at least 10% or 5%) of the desired etch dimensions), andto yet another energy level that is sufficient to cause partiallyanisotropic etch (e.g., the electron penetration depths is less than thedesired etch dimension).

FIG. 5 , which depicts electron source penetrations into a material,illustrates this concept. Here, a layer of material is depicted that hasan etch dimension, represented as a height in the material; thepenetration pattern of two electron sources into the material are alsodepicted. On the left of FIG. 5 , the material was exposed to a 1 keVelectron source which had a penetration depth 516A that is significantlyless than the etch dimension, e.g., the depicted penetration depth 516Ais about 2.5% of the etch dimension (the depth of the depictedmaterial). Accordingly, this 1 keV electron source causes an anisotropicetch. The material of FIG. 5 was also exposed to a 10 keV electronsource that has a penetration depth 516B that is greater than or equalto the etch dimension (e.g., the height of the material) in FIG. 5 ,thereby causing an isotropic etch of the material. Although this exampleuses height as the etch dimension, the etch dimension may also be awidth of the desired etch.

Another example of electron penetration is illustrated with FIGS. 6A-6Cwhich depict electron penetrations into a material with a slot. They-axis in these Figures is the vertical distance, in nanometers (nm),the x-axis is the horizontal distance also in nm, and the shadingindicates electron penetration into the material; the slot in thematerial is 20 nm wide and 1,000 nm tall. In FIG. 6A, the material wasexposed to an electron source having an energy level of 1 keV and as canbe seen, electrons penetrate through the top surface of the material andthe surface at the bottom of the slot, by a small amount, about 5 nm.The electron source energy is increased to 10 keV in FIG. 6B and to 30keV in FIG. 6C and as can be seen, the electron source penetrates deeperinto the material than at the 1 keV level, such as about 275 nm in FIG.6B and about 500 nm in FIG. 6C. As can also be seen in FIGS. 6B and 6C,the electrons may penetrate not only through the top surfaces of thematerial, but also through the side walls and bottom surface of theslot. The greater the energy of the electron source, the greater thepenetration into the material. In some embodiments, 6A may be consideredanisotropic.

As noted above, using electron excitation ALE, adjustments to theelectron source allows for adjustment of the etch performed on thesubstrate. This includes adjusting the areas or sections of thesubstrate that are exposed to electron source as well as adjusting theelectron source energy, the duration of exposure to the electron source,or both. This adjustability allows for selective removal of the modifiedsurface.

For instance, in some embodiments one section of the substrate, not theentire substrate, may be exposed to the electron source. FIG. 7 depictsan example schematic illustration of yet another electron excitation ALEcycle. Here, diagrams 702 a-702 f show an example electron excitationALE cycle for etching a section of atoms 704 from a layer of material706. Diagrams 702 a-702 c are the same as 202 a-202 c in which thesurface layer 706 of material is modified with modifying molecules 708that react with or are adsorbed into atoms 704 to form a modifiedsurface layer 710 with modified molecules 712. In 702 d, a first section718 and a second section 720 of the substrate are identified and in 702e, the first section 718 is exposed to the electron source while thesecond section 720 is not exposed to the electrons 714. This exposure inthe first section 718 enables the modified molecules 712 in this firstsection 718 of the modified surface layer 710 to dissociate from, andthus be removed from, the substrate while the modified molecules 712 inthe second section 720 remain on the substrate as can be seen in 702 f.Later cycles may continue to modify and etch various sections of thesubstrate including the first section, both the first and secondsections, and other sections that may include a part of the firstsection or a part of the second section. This exposure to particularsections and regions of the substrate allows for targeted, selectiveetching to create various geometries as well as to avoid etching othersections.

In some other embodiments, different sections of the substrate may beexposed to different electron source energy levels and to differentdurations of the electron source. FIG. 8 depicts an example schematicillustration of a different electron excitation ALE cycle and diagrams802 a-802 h show another example of an electron excitation ALE cycle foretching atoms 804 from a layer of material. Diagrams 802 a-802 c are thesame as diagrams 402 a-402 c; for example, the atoms 804 in the topsurface layer 806A and two other layers 806B and 806C are modified withmodifying molecules 808 to form modified molecules 812 and thus threemodified layers 810A, 810B, and 810C, collectively identified as 810.

Similar to 702 d described above, a first section 818 and a secondsection 820 of the substrate are identified in diagram 802 d. In diagram802 e, similar to diagram 702 e, the first section 818 is exposed to anelectron source, and the second section 820 is not exposed to theelectron source, in order to cause the removal of modified molecules 812from the top surface layer 810A in the first section 818 and not fromthe other layers 810B and 810C, as depicted in diagram 802 f. In diagram802 g the second section 820 is exposed to the electron source, thefirst section 818 is not, in order to supply energy to the modifiedmolecules 812 in all three modified layers 810 and enable their removalfrom the substrate. In diagram 802 f, the result of etching in diagrams802 e and 802 f is illustrated; the modified molecules 812 in topsurface layer 810A have been removed from the first section 818 of thesubstrate and the modified molecules 812 in the three modified layers810 have been removed from the second section 820 of the substrate.

In some embodiments, the first section 818 and second section 820 areexposed to electron sources at different energy levels in order to causethe removal of different layers of material. For instance, the firstsection 818 may be exposed to an electron source at a first energy levelthat causes electrons to contact, or penetrate to, the first layer 810Aof material but not penetrate to the second or third layers 810B and810C. This limits the delivered energy for dissociating the modifiedmolecules 812 to just the surface layer 810A. The second section 820 maybe exposed to an electron source at a second energy level that causeselectrons to contact and penetrate to all three layers 810A-810C inorder to deliver the energy necessary to dissociate the modifiedmolecules 812 to all three layers. This second energy level may behigher than the first energy level.

Similarly, instead of varying the electron source energy level betweensections, the duration of energy source exposure may be adjusted. Forexample, the first section 818 may be exposed to an electron source fora first time period which causes electrons to contact, or penetrate to,the first layer 810A of material but not to penetrate to the second orthird layers 810B and 810C. This again limits the delivered energy fordissociating the modified molecules 812 to just the surface layer 810A.The second section 820 may be exposed to an electron source for a secondtime period that causes electrons to contact and penetrate to all threelayers 810A-810C in order to deliver the energy necessary to dissociatethe modified molecules 812 to all three layers. The electron sourceenergy may be the same during these two time periods.

Additionally, in some embodiments both the energy level and duration ofexposure may be different between the two sections such that, forinstance, the first section 818 is exposed to an electron source at afirst energy level for a first time period and the second section 820 isexposed to an electron source at a second energy level for a second timeperiod thereby etching different levels in each section. Although twosections were discussed herein, any number of sections may be exposed toenergy sources at different energy levels and/or for differentdurations; etching cycles may also be repeated and alternated such thata combination of these exposures are performed, e.g., one cycle exposesthe entire surface of the substrate to the electron source, followed byanother cycle that exposes one section to the energy source, andfollowed be another cycle that exposes the one section to the energysource at one energy level and a second section to the energy source ata different energy level.

In some embodiments, after the modification operation, a second processgas may be flowed onto the substrate to convert the modified surfacelayer to a converted layer and the removal operation involves theelectron excitation and removal of the converted layer of material. FIG.9 depicts a second example process flow diagram for performingoperations in accordance with disclosed embodiments. The flow diagram ofFIG. 9 is similar to that of FIG. 1 , with noted differences discussedherein. For instance, operations 901, 903, and 909-913 are the same asoperations 101, 103, and 109-113, respectively, discussed above.However, in operation 905, a second process gas with convertingmolecules is flowed onto the substrate. The converting molecules areconfigured to react with the modified molecules and created convertedmolecules in a converted layer of material on the substrate. Theseconverted molecules are volatile molecules that can be dissociated, andtherefore removed, from the substrate once the electron source providesthe energy to the converted molecules to enable this dissociation, asindicated by operation 907; this operation is similar to operation 107but here, the converted layer, not the modified layer, is exposed to theelectron source to dissociate and remove the converted molecules. Insome such embodiments, the modified molecules may not be able to beremoved by electron excitation, or it may not be desirable to remove themodified molecules by electron excitations. For example, the surface ofthe substrate before operation 903 may have aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃) andin operation 903 the substrate is exposed to modifying fluorinemolecules containing a plasma which modifies the surface to aluminumfluoride (AlF₃). In operation 905 the second process gas includesconverting molecules dimethylaluminum chloride (Al(CH₃)₂Cl; DMAC) whichconverts the modified aluminum fluoride layer to the converted, volatilelayer of dimethylaluminum fluoride (Al₂Me₄F₂) that is exposed to theelectron source and removed in operation 907. Although one purgeoperation 911 is included, additional purges may be optionally performedsuch as in between operations 903 and 905, and between operations 905and 907. One cycle may be represented by the performance of operations903-911 and these may be repeated until the desired number of cycles hasbeen performed.

FIG. 10 depicts an example illustration of another electron excitationALE cycle, like that shown in FIG. 9 . Similar to FIGS. 2, 4, 7, and 8 ,diagrams 1002 a-1002 f show an example of another electron excitationALE cycle for etching. In 1002 a, a substrate is provided, whichincludes a first atom 1022 (shaded) and a second atom 1024, three ofeach are in the surface layer 1006 of the substrate. Like in 202 b and202 c, for instance, diagrams 1002 b and 202 c introduce modifyingmolecules 1008 (which may be in a first process gas) that react with, orare adsorbed by, the first atoms 1022 to form modified molecules 1012.In some embodiments, the modifying molecules 1008 do not react with, orare not adsorbed by, the second atom 1024. In 1002 c, after the modifiedmolecules 1012 have been formed, the modifying molecules 1008 may beoptionally purged from the chamber. In 1002 d, a second process gas thatincludes converting molecules 1025 is flowed onto the substrate; theseconverting molecules 1025 react with, or are adsorbed by, the modifiedmolecules 1012 to form converted molecules 1026 (shown as a grouping ofthe diamond, shaded circle, and solid circle, one of which is identifiedin a dotted ellipse labeled 1026) which is volatile. In 1000 e, theconverted molecules 1026 are exposed to the electrons 1014 which provideenergy to the converted molecules 1026 to enable them to dissociate fromthe substrate and therefore be removed; this is equivalent to etching ofthe substrate. In 1002 f, the chamber is purged and the byproducts areremoved. This example results in the selective etching of a first atomfrom the substrate because the modifying and converting gases wereselected to react with and remove the first atom, not the second atom,from the layer of material on the substrate.

There are numerous advantages to using a second process gas to convertthe modified layer into a converted layer and to remove the convertedlayer. For example, some removal of some modified molecules may not beself-limiting when exposed to an electron source which may cause moreetching than is desired. Additionally, removal of the converted layermay occur at more advantageous energy levels, such as a lower energylevel than that of the modified layer thereby reducing exposure time.

As described above, conventional ALE techniques can be limited toparticular materials that are “hard” in terms of sputtering because, forexample, a substrate surface that includes both hard and soft materials(e.g., those with a surface binding energy less than 4.5 eV) tends tosputter the soft materials during traditional ALE. However, using theembodiments described herein, a substrate having both hard and softmaterials can be etched because exposing the substrate to the electronsource does not cause unwanted sputtering of the soft materials.

Electron Excitation ALE Apparatuses

Various embodiments of apparatuses capable of performing electronexcitation ALE operations and techniques described above will now bedescribed. FIG. 11 depicts an example cross-sectional view of anapparatus for semiconductor processing in accordance with disclosedembodiments; this apparatus 1130 includes a processing chamber 1132, aprocess gas unit 1134, an electron source 1136, a wafer support 1138,and a controller 1140. The processing chamber 1132 has chamber walls1142 that at least partially bound and define a chamber interior 1139(which may be considered a plenum volume). The chamber walls 1142 may befabricated from stainless steel or aluminum.

The wafer support 1138 is positioned within the chamber interior 1139near the bottom inner surface. The wafer support 1138 is configured toposition a semiconductor wafer 1148, upon which the etching anddeposition processes are performed, in the chamber interior 1139,including receiving and holding the semiconductor wafer 1148. The wafersupport 1138 can be an electrostatic chuck for supporting the wafer 1148when present. In some embodiments, an edge ring (not shown) surroundswafer support 1138, and has an upper surface that is approximatelyplanar with a top surface of a wafer 1148, when present over wafersupport 1138. The wafer support 1138 may also include electrostaticelectrodes for chucking and dechucking the wafer. A filter and DC clamppower supply (not shown) may be provided for this purpose. Other controlsystems for lifting the wafer 1148 off the wafer support 1138 can alsobe provided. The wafer support 1138 can also be electrically chargedusing an RF power supply 1150. The RF power supply 1150 is connected tomatching circuitry 1152. Bias power may be delivered to wafer support1138 to bias the substrate 1148. In various embodiments, the bias powermay be set to a value between 0V (no bias) and about 2000V, or between0V and 1800V, or between 0V and 1500V, or between 500V and about 1500V.The matching circuitry 1152 is connected to the chuck wafer support 1138and in this manner the RF power supply 1150 is connected to the chuckwafer support 1138.

The process gas unit 1134 is configured to flow process gases, which mayinclude liquids and/or gases, such as a reactant, modifying molecules,converting molecules, or removal molecules, onto the substrate 1148 inthe chamber interior 1139. The process gas unit 1134 includes one ormore inlets through which the process gas flows into the chamberinterior 1139, such as inlets on the top of the chamber, not depicted,or side gas flow inlets, such as inlet 1160. The process gas unit 1134may include a mixing vessel for blending and/or conditioning processgases for delivery to the chamber interior 1139. One or more mixingvessel inlet valves may control introduction of process gases to themixing vessel.

The process gas unit 1134 may include a first process gas source 1162, afirst process liquid source 1164, a vaporization point (not depicted)which may vaporize the first liquid into a gas, and a carrier gas source1166. Some reactants may be stored in liquid form prior to vaporizationand subsequent to delivery to the process chamber 1132. The firstprocess gas may comprise an oxidizing gas, a halogenating gas, ozone, ahydroxylating gas, or another gas configured to modify one or morelayers of material on the substrate 1148 as described above. In someimplementations, the vaporization point may be a heated liquid injectionmodule. In some other implementations, the vaporization point may be aheated vaporizer. In yet other implementations, the vaporization pointmay be eliminated from the process station. In some implementations, aliquid flow controller (LFC) upstream of the vaporization point may beprovided for controlling a mass flow of liquid for vaporization anddelivery to the chamber interior 1139. The carrier gas source 1166includes one or more carrier gases or liquids that may be flowed withthe processing gas; these may be inert gases like N₂, Ar, Ne, He.

The apparatus 1130 also includes an electron source 1136 that isconfigured to expose electrons to the substrate 1148 positioned on thewafer support 1138. As stated above, the electron source 1136 may be abroad beam or large area source that is configured to expose the entiresubstrate 1148 surface to the electrons at once, i.e., simultaneously.Some embodiments may be a thermionic source which may be formed fromlanthanum hexaboride, or the electron source may be a field electronemission source, such as heated tungsten zirconium dioxide (W/ZrO₂). Insome other embodiments, the electron source 1136 may be an electron beamthat scans multiple sections of the substrate 1148, or all of thesubstrate, and that may use shaped beams to focus the beam on one ormore sections of the substrate 1148 and to scan various sections of thesubstrate 1148, such as a vector scan. In some embodiments, the electronsource may be an electron plasma source. An isolation valve, or ashutter, 1137 may also be included in the apparatus 1130. The isolationvalve is interposed between the chamber 1132 and the electron source1136 and it is configured to allow the electrons to enter the chamberinterior 1139, to prevent the electrons from entering the chamberinterior 1132, and to prevent gases and particles from the chamberinterior 1139 traveling to the electron source 1136.

The apparatus 1130 may also include a vacuum pump 1168 that isconfigured to generate a vacuum in the chamber interior 1139, includinga one or two stage mechanical dry pump and/or turbomolecular pump thatmay be used to draw process gases out of the process chamber interior1139 and to maintain a pressure within the process chamber 1132. Forexample, the pump 1168 may be used to evacuate the chamber interior 1139during a purge operation of ALE. A valve-controlled conduit may be usedto fluidically connect the vacuum pump to the processing chamber 1132 soas to selectively control application of the vacuum environment providedby the vacuum pump 1168. This may be done employing a closedloop-controlled flow restriction device, such as a throttle valve (notshown) or a pendulum valve (not shown), during operational plasmaprocessing. The apparatus 1130 is configured to maintain the chamberinterior 1139 at a vacuum while the isolation valve 1137 is open andwhile the substrate 1148 is exposed to the electron beam from theelectron source 1136.

As noted above, the apparatus may include a plasma generator for usingor generating a plasma in the chamber interior 1139, such as acapacitively coupled plasma (CCP), an inductively coupled plasma (ICP),and a remote plasma. The apparatus 1130 of FIG. 11 includes a plasmagenerator that has ICP features such as a coil 1154 positioned above thechamber 1132. The coil 1154 is fabricated from an electricallyconductive material and includes at least one complete turn. The exampleof a coil 1154 shown in FIG. 11 includes three turns. The cross sectionsof coil 1154 are shown with symbols, and coils having an “X” extendrotationally into the page, while coils having a “⋅” extend rotationallyout of the page. Elements for plasma generation also include an RF powersupply 1156 configured to supply RF power to the coil 1154. In general,the RF power supply 1156 is connected to matching circuitry 1158 and thematching circuitry 1158 is connected to the coil 1154. In this manner,the RF power supply 1156 is connected to the coil 1154. The RF powersupply 1156 may be configured to be pulsed at a frequency between 10 Hzand 200 Hz using a duty cycle between 1% and about 20% during themodification operation, and/or pulsed at a frequency between 10 Hz and200 Hz using a duty cycle between 1% and about 20% during the removaloperation for an ALE cycle. The plasma generator is not identified as asingle element in FIG. 11 , but it includes, the coil 1154, the RF powersupply 1156, and optionally the matching circuitry 1158)

Although not depicted, an optional Faraday shield may be positionedbetween the coil 1154 and the chamber 1132. The Faraday shield may bemaintained in a spaced-apart relationship relative to the coil 1154. TheFaraday shield may be disposed immediately above the chamber 1132. Thecoil 1154, the Faraday shield, and the top wall of the chamber 1132 mayeach be configured to be substantially parallel to one another. TheFaraday shield may prevent metal or other species from depositing on thechamber 1132.

An optional internal plasma grid 1146 may divide the overall processingchamber 1139 into an upper sub-chamber 1139A and a lower sub-chamber1139B. In most embodiments, plasma grid 1146 may be removed, therebyutilizing a chamber space made of sub chambers 1139A and 113B.

Radio frequency power is supplied from the RF power supply 1156 to thecoil 1154 to cause an RF current to flow through the coil 1154. The RFcurrent flowing through the coil 1154 generates an electromagnetic fieldabout the coil 1154. The electromagnetic field generates an inductivecurrent within the upper sub-chamber 1139A. The physical and chemicalinteractions of various generated ions and radicals with the wafer 1148may selectively modify layers of the wafer 1148. If the plasma grid 1146is used such that there is both an upper sub-chamber 1139A and a lowersub-chamber 1139B, the inductive current acts on the gas present in theupper sub-chamber 1139A to generate an electron-ion plasma in the uppersub-chamber 1139A. The optional internal plasma grid 1146 limits theamount of hot electrons in the lower sub-chamber 1139B. In someembodiments, the apparatus 1130 is designed and operated such that theplasma present in the lower sub-chamber 1139B is an ion-ion plasma.

Both the upper electron-ion plasma and the lower ion-ion plasma maycontain positive and negative ions, though the ion-ion plasma will havea greater ratio of negative ions to positive ions. Volatile etchingand/or deposition byproducts may be removed from the lower sub-chamber1139B through port 1170. The wafer support 1138 disclosed herein mayoperate at temperatures ranging between about −200° C. and about 600° C.or between about −20° C. and about 250° C., the wafer support 1138 maybe set at a temperature less than about 0° C. The temperature willdepend on the process operation and specific recipe and the tool used.

Chamber 1132 may be coupled to facilities (not shown) when installed ina clean room or a fabrication facility. Facilities include plumbing thatprovide processing gases, vacuum, temperature control, and environmentalparticle control. These facilities are coupled to chamber 1132, wheninstalled in the target fabrication facility. Additionally, chamber 1132may be coupled to a transfer chamber that allows robotics to transfersemiconductor wafers into and out of chamber 1132 using typicalautomation.

The system controller 1140 (which may include one or more physical orlogical controllers) controls some or all of the operations of aprocessing chamber. The system controller 1140 may include one or morememory devices 1172 and one or more processors 1174. In someembodiments, the apparatus includes a switching system for controllingflow rates and durations when disclosed embodiments are performed. Insome embodiments, the apparatus may have a switching time of up to about500 ms, or up to about 750 ms. Switching time may depend on the flowchemistry, recipe chosen, reactor architecture, and other factors.

In some implementations, the controller 1140 is part of a system or theapparatus 1130, which may be part of the above-described examples. Suchsystems can comprise semiconductor processing equipment, including aprocessing tool or tools, chamber or chambers, a platform or platformsfor processing, and/or specific processing components (a wafer substratesupport, a gas flow system, etc.). These systems may be integrated withelectronics for controlling their operation before, during, and afterprocessing of a semiconductor wafer or substrate. The electronics may bereferred to as the “controller,” which may control various components orsubparts of the system or systems. The controller 1140, depending on theprocessing parameters and/or the type of system, may be programmed tocontrol any of the processes disclosed herein, including the delivery ofprocessing gases, temperature settings (e.g., heating and/or cooling),pressure settings, vacuum settings, power settings, radio frequency (RF)generator settings, RF matching circuit settings, frequency settings,flow rate settings, fluid delivery settings, positional and operationsettings, wafer transfers into and out of a tool and other transfertools and/or load locks connected to or interfaced with a specificsystem.

Broadly speaking, the controller 1140 may be defined as electronicshaving various integrated circuits, logic, memory, and/or software thatreceive instructions, issue instructions, control operation, enablecleaning operations, enable endpoint measurements, and the like. Theintegrated circuits may include chips in the form of firmware that storeprogram instructions, digital signal processors (DSPs), chips defined asapplication specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and/or one or moremicroprocessors, or microcontrollers that execute program instructions(e.g., software). Program instructions may be instructions communicatedto the controller in the form of various individual settings (or programfiles), defining operational parameters for carrying out a particularprocess on or for a semiconductor wafer or to a system. The operationalparameters may, in some embodiments, be part of a recipe defined byprocess engineers to accomplish one or more processing steps during thefabrication of one or more layers, materials, metals, oxides, silicon,silicon dioxide, surfaces, circuits, and/or dies of a wafer. In someembodiments, the controller 1140 may be used to determine a window fortemperature for the modification operation of ALE, or to determine awindow for process conditions for the removal operation of ALE, or both.

The controller 1140, in some implementations, may be a part of orcoupled to a computer that is integrated with, coupled to the system,otherwise networked to the system, or a combination thereof. Forexample, the controller may be in the “cloud” or all or a part of a fabhost computer system, which can allow for remote access of the waferprocessing. The computer may enable remote access to the system tomonitor current progress of fabrication operations, examine a history ofpast fabrication operations, examine trends or performance metrics froma plurality of fabrication operations, to change parameters of currentprocessing, to set processing steps to follow a current processing, orto start a new process. In some examples, a remote computer (e.g. aserver) can provide process recipes to a system over a network, whichmay include a local network or the Internet. The remote computer mayinclude a user interface that enables entry or programming of parametersand/or settings, which are then communicated to the system from theremote computer. In some examples, the controller 1140 receivesinstructions in the form of data, which specify parameters for each ofthe processing steps to be performed during one or more operations. Itshould be understood that the parameters may be specific to the type ofprocess to be performed and the type of tool that the controller isconfigured to interface with or control. Thus as described above, thecontroller 1140 may be distributed, such as by comprising one or morediscrete controllers that are networked together and working towards acommon purpose, such as the processes and controls described herein. Anexample of a distributed controller for such purposes would be one ormore integrated circuits on a chamber in communication with one or moreintegrated circuits located remotely (such as at the platform level oras part of a remote computer) that combine to control a process on thechamber.

Without limitation, example systems may include a plasma etch chamber ormodule, a deposition chamber or module, a spin-rinse chamber or module,a metal plating chamber or module, a clean chamber or module, a beveledge etch chamber or module, a physical vapor deposition (PVD) chamberor module, a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) chamber or module, an ALDchamber or module, an ALE chamber or module, an ion implantation chamberor module, a track chamber or module, and any other semiconductorprocessing systems that may be associated or used in the fabricationand/or manufacturing of semiconductor wafers.

As noted above, depending on the process step or steps to be performedby the tool, the controller 1140 might communicate with one or more ofother tool circuits or modules, other tool components, cluster tools,other tool interfaces, adjacent tools, neighboring tools, tools locatedthroughout a factory, a main computer, another controller, or tools usedin material transport that bring containers of wafers to and from toollocations and/or load ports in a semiconductor manufacturing factory.

In some embodiments, the controller 1140 includes instructions that areconfigured to execute some or all of the techniques described above. Forexample, these instructions may be configured to cause the process gasunit 1134 to flow the first process gas to the substrate 1148 in thechamber interior 1139 and the first process gas is configured to modifyone or more layers of material on the substrate 1148, to cause theelectron source 1136 to generate the electrons and thereby expose theone or more modified surface layers on the substrate 1148 to theelectron source without using a plasma, and to control the vacuum pump1168 to generate a vacuum in the chamber interior 1139 and purge thegases from the chamber interior 1139. This may also include thecontroller causing the shutter valve 1157 to be closed during amodification operation and open during a removal operation.

The controller 1140 may also be configured to cause the plasma generatorto generate a plasma in the chamber interior 1139, such as during themodification operation described above as well as to reduce orneutralize the charge of the substrate after exposure to the electronsource. The plasma generator may include coil 1154, matching circuitry1158, and the RF power supply 1156. In some other embodiments, theplasma generator is a CCP or remote plasma source. FIG. 12 depicts anexample cross-sectional view of another apparatus for semiconductorprocessing in accordance with disclosed embodiments. Here, the apparatus1230 is the same as in FIG. 11 , but the coil has been removed and twoother types of plasma generators are depicted. One type is a CCP plasmagenerator in which the RF power source 1256 is connected to the matchingcircuitry 1258 which is connected directly to the chamber 1132 itselfthat generates the plasma using capacitive coupling between a poweredelectrode and a grounded electrode; the powered electrode, which may beconnected with the plasma RF power source 1256, may correspond with theRF electrode in the chamber interior. The grounded electrode maycorrespond with the substrate support 1138. The second type is a remoteplasma source 1276 that is connected to the chamber 1132 and configuredto flow radicals into the chamber interior 1139. The electrodes may beconfigured to produce RF energy in the 13.56 MHz range, 27 MHz range,or, more generally, between 50 Khz and 60 MHz. In some embodiments,there may be multiple electrodes provided which are each configured toproduce a specific frequency range of RF energy.

In some embodiments, the apparatus may include a charge neutralizationunit that is configured to reduce or remove a charge on the substrate.This charge neutralization unit may include the plasma generatordescribed herein, the electron source described herein, as well as anultraviolet light source 1178 shown in FIG. 11 . The controller 1140 mayinclude instructions to generate a plasma in the chamber interior 1139that reduces or eliminates the charge on the substrate 1148, to causethe electron source 1136 to alternatively expose the substrate 1148 toelectrons and ions which reduces or eliminates the charge on thesubstrate 1148, and to cause the ultraviolet light source 1178 toproduce ultraviolet light that reduces or eliminates the charge on thesubstrate 1148. This ultraviolet light may have wavelengths betweenabout 50 nm and about 250 nm.

Performing electron excitation ALE using the techniques and apparatusesdescribed herein provides numerous advantages. For example, thesetechniques and apparatuses allow for the isotropic etching of layers ofmaterial inside deep contacts or trenches whereas conventional ALE islimited to anisotropic etching within these areas; these areas can alsobe etched without causing ion damage. Additionally, these techniques andapparatuses enable ALE of materials that have a high sputter yield,e.g., soft materials, without causing these soft materials to sputter.As described above, the nature of the etching can be adjusted betweenisotropic, anisotropic, and partially anisotropic etching, and variousadjustments to the electron source energy, to the areas on the substrateexposed to the electron source, and the duration of exposure enabletargeted, selected etching to form various geometries. These techniquesand apparatuses also reduce or eliminate faceting and erosion of masksthereby providing better critical depth control.

While the subject matter disclosed herein has been particularlydescribed with respect to the illustrated embodiments, it will beappreciated that various alterations, modifications and adaptations maybe made based on the present disclosure, and are intended to be withinthe scope of the present invention. It is to be understood that thedescription is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but, on thecontrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalentarrangements included within the scope of the claims.

1-28. (canceled)
 29. An apparatus for semiconductor processing, theapparatus comprising: a processing chamber that includes chamber wallsthat at least partially bound a chamber interior; a wafer support forholding a substrate housed in the chamber interior; a process gas unitconfigured to flow a first process gas into the chamber interior andonto the substrate in the chamber interior; an electron sourceconfigured to deliver electrons from the electron source to the chamberinterior; and a controller, wherein the controller includes instructionsthat are configured to: cause the process gas unit to flow the firstprocess gas to the processing chamber and cause the substrate in thechamber interior to be exposed to the first process gas, wherein thefirst process gas is configured to modify one or more layers of materialon the substrate to form one or more modified layers, and cause theelectron source to generate the electrons and thereby cause the one ormore modified surface layers on the substrate to be exposed to theelectrons, wherein the one or more modified surface layers are removed,without using a plasma.
 30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the firstprocess gas comprises diatomic chlorine or carbon monoxide.
 31. Theapparatus of claim 29, wherein the electron source comprises athermionic source or a field electron emission source.
 32. The apparatusof claim 31, wherein the thermionic source comprises lanthanumhexaboride.
 33. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the field electronemission source comprises tungsten zirconium dioxide.
 34. The apparatusof claim 29, further comprising a vacuum unit configured to evacuategases from the chamber interior, wherein the controller furthercomprises instructions configured to: cause the vacuum unit to generatea vacuum in the chamber interior and purge gases from the chamberinterior.
 35. The apparatus of claim 29, further comprising a chargeneutralization unit configured to neutralize a charge of the substrate,wherein the controller further comprises instructions configured to:cause the charge neutralization unit to neutralize the charge of thesubstrate.
 36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the chargeneutralization unit is at least one of: a plasma source, an ultravioletlight source, and the electron source.
 37. The apparatus of claim 36,wherein the controller further comprises instructions configured to:cause generation of a plasma in the chamber interior, cause exposure ofthe substrate to electrons and ions from the electron source, or causeproduction of ultraviolet light from the ultraviolet light source,wherein a wavelength of the ultraviolet light is between 50 nm and about250 nm.
 38. The apparatus of claim 29, further comprising a plasmagenerator configured to generate a plasma in the chamber interior,wherein: the plasma generator is one of: a capacitively coupled plasma,an inductively coupled plasma, an upper remote plasma, and a lowerremote plasma, and the controller further comprises instructionsconfigured to cause the plasma generator to generate the plasma in thechamber interior.
 39. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein the inductivelycoupled plasma is set at a plasma between about 50 W and about 2000 W.40. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein the inductively coupled plasma isset at a bias between 0V and about 500V.
 41. The apparatus of claim 38,wherein a pulsing frequency is between about 10 Hz and about 200 Hz. 42.The apparatus of claim 29, further comprising an isolation valve orshutter interposed between the chamber interior and the electron source,wherein the isolation valve or shutter are configured to allow theelectrons to reach the chamber interior.
 43. An apparatus forsemiconductor processing, the apparatus comprising: a processing chamberthat includes chamber walls that at least partially bound a chamberinterior; a wafer support for holding a substrate housed in the chamberinterior; a process gas unit configured to flow a first process gas anda second process gas into the chamber interior and onto the substrate inthe chamber interior; an electron source configured to deliver electronsfrom the electron source to the chamber interior; and a controller,wherein the controller includes instructions that are configured to:cause the process gas unit to flow the first process gas and the secondprocess gas to the processing chamber and cause the substrate in thechamber interior to be exposed to the first and the second process gas,wherein the first process gas is configured to modify one or more layersof material on the substrate to form one or more modified layers, andthe second process gas is configured to convert the modified layer toone or more converted layers, and cause the electron source to generatethe electrons and thereby cause the one or more converted layers on thesubstrate to be exposed to the electrons, wherein the one or moreconverted layers are removed, without using a plasma.
 44. The apparatusof claim 43, wherein the substrate comprises aluminum oxide.
 45. Theapparatus of claim 43, wherein the first process gas comprises diatomicchloride or carbon monoxide.
 46. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein thesecond process gas comprises dimethylaluminum chloride.